Friday, February 19, 2010

One of the things that I have noticed since being retired is that I can't seem to decide on what to prepare for dinner. This can be a bit difficult when one must remain on a wheat free (wheat, rye, barley) diet.

A quick meal can be a fast trip for sandwiches or pizza for those without food allergies. That is not an a option for me without driving and asking questions about cross-contamination. It is simpler to just prepare my own meals.

I haven't quite perfected gluten free bread baking, so I either make corn muffins or buy a loaf of Udi's bread. The cost of the purchased bread helps in preventing my eating a lot of sandwiches. That's not to say that I do not make cookies, brownies and cakes.

I haven't managed to reduce the amount cooked, because, in the past, I planned for enough to take to work for lunch. Now I am trying new ways to do 'left over make overs'.

I had tomatillos and 2 half cans of beans in the refrigerator. I had no idea what to do with tomatillos until someone used them in salsa. The light bulb popped and I decided to add them to bean soup!

So here's to my version of a complete protein meal without meat! note the amount of protein.

Remove outer skin from tomatillos, cut into cubes.
If using canned vegetables look for low-sodium varieties, rinse and drain.
Place all ingredients in a medium slow cooker on low at least 3 hours before you plan to eat.
Test for seasoning 30 minutes before serving. If salt is needed, sprinkle 1/2 tsp sea salt over the top, do not stir. replace top on slow cooker.
Serve with avocado cubes, if desired.

Cut the ends off the eggplant, cut in half lengthwise, then slice into thin slices
Saute the eggplant in an iron skillet with about 2 tablespoons of oil. Cook on high, turning frequently. Reduce the head to low and place top on skillet to finish cooking. Turn off heat.
Pour refried beans in a pot with half of the Rotel tomatoes, heat on low heat stirring to combine
Place drained black beans in a small pot or dish, add a tablespoon of Rotel, stir, set aside
Pour the pasta sauce in another pot, add remainder of Rotel tomatoes,onions, spice and pepper, heat on low heat
Spray a large baking dish with non stick spray. Preheat oven to 350 F.
Spread a thin layer of pasta sauce over the bottom of the baking dish. Start with placing slices of lasagna noodles in the bottom of the dish.

Continue layering, alternating with ingredients. Finish up with lasagna noodles and pasta sauce.

Sprinkle with cheese.

Cover with non-stick aluminum foil or foil sprayed with oil.

Bake for 45 minutes. Remove cover.
Sprinkle mixed cheese evenly over top and return to oven.

Reduce oven to 250 F.
Bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Let it set for 10 minutes before serving.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Coconut cake was one of the cakes we had growing up for Easter. My memory of it was moist and sweet with lots of frosting and coconut. Those were the days when I could eat sweets and not worry about the pounds, as we were very active physically. Today, I plan the goodies. Recipes get downsized and rightsized. That brings back the thought of going thru the rigors of employment: down size, right size, centralize, de-centralize, .......

Since becoming gluten-free(wheat, barley, rye), I haven't had a good non-chocolate cake. Chocolate can improve the taste of almost any dessert, so I made chocolate. Chocolate dessert is slowly being pushed aside as I have had an over-abundance of it over the past five years. My tastebuds have been crying for the simple desserts like tea cakes and lemon pound cake.

I made a vanilla pound cake for Christmas, based on a recipe fron landolakes.com. It was so so in that I prefer not to drizzle frosting on vanilla pound cakes.

For the past week, I have had visions of coconut cookies or coconut cake. Finally, yesterday I decided on coconut pound cake.

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About Me

I am retired AND I am severely gluten-sensitive.
I retired July 31, 2009 after almost 30 years in Information Technology.
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After discovering that I cannot eat anything containing wheat-gluten in 2006, I am learning new ways to make meals. Whole grains are now a part of my food list more than ever before.
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Baking has always been enjoyable to me. I am really enjoying converting or creating new gluten free goodies. Gluten free baking ingredients can be very expensive. Some cost cutting can be achieved by grinding your own nut flours as needed because they tend to be used less than others. My new goal is to compile an illustrated gluten-free cookbook.
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I hope to also show that not all gluten-intolerant people are under-weight, young or of obvious European Descent. There are many of us ‘baby boomers’ ‘senior citizens’ ‘over-weight’ or ‘old people’ who have severe reactions to gluten!
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Hopefully diagnosis will be made earlier so that no one suffers the related auto-immune diseases that seem to follow pattern from non-absorption of necessary nutrients.